Matt Chase, a DC-based designer (swoon), offers up a hip, retro-kitsch re-branding of the USPS.  My initial reaction was “gasp this is just too wonderful” but then I thought, “is it too trendy?  Will this kind of design hold up long-term for an institution like the USPS?”  The last (actual) major branding change was back [...]

[Read more →]

The toy company Melissa and Doug make a Stamp & Sort play set!  I picked this up at a local toy store as a gift for (another) friend expecting a child; it’s never too early to brain wash future philatelists!  However, if you Google “toy mailbox” you’ll find lots of cool ones.  My hope is [...]

[Read more →]

This stamp came out of the bag/bucket I picked up for $5.  I thought it was Syrian, over printed with… something.  I assumed it was French for something like airmail or “rush” or whatever (I don’t speak French, not even a little teeny bit).  Turns out, this is a stamp from The Alawites State (French, [...]

[Read more →]

I’ve just started collecting stamps, and after last weekend’s stamp show I’ve had a lot of stamps to sort through and put in an album.  Some of them I got in $5 bucket, but some of them I picked out for a variety of reasons.  Of all the stamps I’ve been gathering lately, I’m most [...]

[Read more →]

“Lighter Moments” in Karthick Ramalingam’s Flickr stream.
Licensed via the Creative Commons.

The Overland Mail
by Rudyard Kipling
(Foot-Service to the Hills)
In the name of the Empress of India, make way,
O Lords of the Jungle, wherever you roam.
The woods are astir at the close of the day –
We exiles are waiting for letters from Home.
Let the robber retreat [...]

[Read more →]

Oh it was fun to shop at the Stamp Show.  Vendors had boxes and boxes and boxes of envelopes, stamps, old letters, and other items that they just let you flip through.  My goodness it was almost like heaven on earth.  If only I had a billion dollars and lots of space for that sort [...]

[Read more →]

I knew about the Universal Postal Union but I didn’t know there was a UN Postal Administration until I spent time at the APS’ Annual Stamp show!  I purchased a few items they had available and talked to the husband and wife team who staffed the booth.  I learned, for example, that:
The United Nations is [...]

[Read more →]

I spent almost all day Saturday at the American Philatelic Society’s Annual  Stamp Show.  Lucky for me, a new stamp collector, the show was just down the 95 in Richmond, VA.  I took a lot of photos, made a lot of exciting purchases, and learned a whole lot– I’m still processing it and reading through [...]

[Read more →]

One of the perks of living in Washington, and I know I’ve mentioned it before, is access to the truly incredible National Postal Museum.  Just last week I took a morning off work to visit the Congressional Stamp Exhibition at the US Capitol, well– very near the Capitol in one of the House office buildings. [...]

[Read more →]

My coworker who shared the postcards from Africa also passed along this one from Russia– postmarked 1984.  When doing my sleuthing about the background for these stamps I got stuck.  I assumed, in my post-Cold War reality, that they were Olympic commemorative stamps.  Of course, I’d forgotten that the Russians, and other Communist countries, boycotted [...]

[Read more →]